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ESAblawg is an educational effort by Keith W. Rizzardi. Correspondence with this site does not create a lawyer-client relationship. Photos or links may be copyrighted (but used with permission, or as fair use). ESA blawg is published with a Creative Commons License.

florida gators... never threatened!

If you ain't a Gator, you should be! Alligators (and endangered crocs) are important indicator species atop their food chains, with sensitivity to pollution and pesticides akin to humans. See ESA blawg. Gator blood could be our pharmaceutical future, too. See ESA musing.

Follow the truth.

"This institution will be based on the illimitable freedom of the human mind. For here we are not afraid to follow truth wherever it may lead, nor to tolerate any error so long as reason is left free to combat it."
-- Thomas Jefferson to William Roscoe, December 27, 1820.

Thanks, Kevin.

KEVIN S. PETTITT helped found this blawg. A D.C.-based IT consultant specializing in Lotus Notes & Domino, he also maintains Lotus Guru blog.

SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service, propose to list the dunes sagebrush lizard (Sceloporus arenicolus),
a lizard known from southeastern New Mexico and adjacent west Texas, as
endangered under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended. If we
finalize the rule as proposed, it would extend the Act’s protections to
this species. We have determined that critical habitat for the dunes
sagebrush lizard is prudent but not determinable at this time. DATES: We
will consider comments received or postmarked on or before February 14,
2011.

The dunes sagebrush lizard is considered
to be a habitat specialist because it has adapted to thrive only in a narrow
range of environmental conditions that exist within shinnery oak dunes.
Each shinnery oak tree occurs primarily under ground, with only one-tenth
of the plant standing 0.6 to 0.8 meters (m) (2 to 3 feet (ft)) above ground
level. In 1982, it was estimated that there was one million acres
of shinnery oak dunes in New Mexico. Currently, the amount of shinnery
oak dune habitat is estimated to be 600,000 acres, a 40 percent loss since
1982. Continued loss of shinnery oak dunes within the geographic range
of the dunes sagebrush lizard since then has likely further decreased the
amount of habitat available.

KEITHINKING: The Center
for Biological Diversity petitioned FWS to list the species
eight years ago. The listing of this species may have significant
implications for the development of energy development in Texas and New
Mexico, creating traditional conflicts with oil drilling,
but also creating new problems for green energy solutions...

EXCERPT: Wind and Solar Energy Development.
Eastern New Mexico and western Texas are highly suitable areas for
wind and solar energy development. The NMSLO has leased 1,520 ha (3,757
ac) of trust land in Chaves and Roosevelt Counties to Xcel Energy for a
120-megawatt (MW) wind farm. Additionally, two new wind projects are under
development on State trust lands in Chaves County, and one in Eddy County.
The Service has also been contacted by a consultant for a wind energy farm
to be located in Lea County, near Tatum, New Mexico. The proposed project
area is near the range of the dunes sagebrush lizard. The infrastructure
for wind and solar energy would cause similar habitat fragmentation as
that produced by oil and gas development. Potential direct effects to the
dunes sagebrush lizard from wind energy development include physical disturbance
during construction and maintenance of a project, habitat loss, and habitat
fragmentation associated with the infrastructure of the project.